Reviewers and fans talked this game up as the second coming, but I'm not seeing why.For a Wii port, I feel that Graces looks way better than Xillia, Xillia has sort of a muted look to it. The world design also has a bit of WRPG/MMORPG feel to it, large areas a lot of which is empty, not all NPCs are able to be talked to etc.

The combat feels a bit sluggish and slow.

The game is fun, but doesn't seem to have sucked me in as much as ToS or Vesperia did, while the combat is no where near addicting as Graces.

The "sphere grid' is more restrictive in practice than it is advertised as, you have to follow certain paths to expand it or open new artes.

I think Graces Titles system was one of the best gameplay mechanics in any JRPG, as it continuously drove me to try new things to open stat bonuses, extra artes, etc. Here, you just get Grade.

I'm going to feel stupid if everyone else figured this out already, but if not here's a handy tip for combat:

If you're linked to someone and you open the Artes menu, it will have link symbols next to the moves that currently allow Linked Artes. Just figured this out in the mine with Jude and Leia. Now I actually stand a chance at getting the Linked Arte Chain titles.

I'm going to feel stupid if everyone else figured this out already, but if not here's a handy tip for combat:

If you're linked to someone and you open the Artes menu, it will have link symbols next to the moves that currently allow Linked Artes. Just figured this out in the mine with Jude and Leia. Now I actually stand a chance at getting the Linked Arte Chain titles.

In the menu, select "Arts" and your character then press either start or select (not sure) and it will show you every combination of every move for your character.

Overall I'm finding the characters less facepalm-inducing than Graces, but pretty weak otherwise. Even Vesperia, which some people claim has shallow characters, has a far more endearing and memorable cast overall. I can't see many of them making a lasting impact on me. Besides the obvious.

Also, if I had to use one word to describe this game, it would be "dissonant." Everything in this game clashes. The character, world, and town designs, the music (you go from traditional Japanese town themes to a world map theme that sounds like it came right out of Star Ocean 2, to I swear that town melody was in Graces), and even the character personalities at times.

The whole Milla leg paralysis section. I really liked the entire theme of overcoming a debilitating physical disability, eventhough it was pretty obvious she would recover. The last game I remember that had something similar was Ozma in the TOremake and how she is beaten into a permanent comatose state and sent back to her country if you don't recruit her.

I'm going to feel stupid if everyone else figured this out already, but if not here's a handy tip for combat:

If you're linked to someone and you open the Artes menu, it will have link symbols next to the moves that currently allow Linked Artes. Just figured this out in the mine with Jude and Leia. Now I actually stand a chance at getting the Linked Arte Chain titles.

In the menu, select "Arts" and your character then press either start or select (not sure) and it will show you every combination of every move for your character.

Ah! No more fumbling in the dark for this! Thanks!!

Fell asleep on the couch playing this last night. Will have to get back at it sometime soon...was just so exhausted.

I'm going to feel stupid if everyone else figured this out already, but if not here's a handy tip for combat:

If you're linked to someone and you open the Artes menu, it will have link symbols next to the moves that currently allow Linked Artes. Just figured this out in the mine with Jude and Leia. Now I actually stand a chance at getting the Linked Arte Chain titles.

In the menu, select "Arts" and your character then press either start or select (not sure) and it will show you every combination of every move for your character.

Ah! No more fumbling in the dark for this! Thanks!!

Fell asleep on the couch playing this last night. Will have to get back at it sometime soon...was just so exhausted.

In the arts menu, if you press R2, it will show you all link artes available between your selected character and every other character's available artes. Pretty fucking handy.

Haha, yes, exactly, the second one was the one I was thinking of with the Star Ocean comment. The Graces comment was one of the port town themes. I mean, it's Sakuraba, I get it, same composer and whatnot, but still the soundtrack clashes quite a bit at times.

Reviewers and fans talked this game up as the second coming, but I'm not seeing why.For a Wii port, I feel that Graces looks way better than Xillia, Xillia has sort of a muted look to it. The world design also has a bit of WRPG/MMORPG feel to it, large areas a lot of which is empty, not all NPCs are able to be talked to etc.

The combat feels a bit sluggish and slow.

The game is fun, but doesn't seem to have sucked me in as much as ToS or Vesperia did, while the combat is no where near addicting as Graces.

The "sphere grid' is more restrictive in practice than it is advertised as, you have to follow certain paths to expand it or open new artes.

I think Graces Titles system was one of the best gameplay mechanics in any JRPG, as it continuously drove me to try new things to open stat bonuses, extra artes, etc. Here, you just get Grade.

Just finished both sides (and even got the platinum trophee - never thought that would happen!) and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't all that great. The world felt small and boring, despite the areas between cities being quite large. I guess it's the sameness that ruined it. I mean, seriously, those Sea Havens are more identical than Subway restaurants.

The whole game felt cheap and rushed compared to other mothership games.

Finally resolved my character selection issue after playing a little while longer... Milla in spite of plot weaknesses cause I love her character and will feel reeeeeeal remiss in missing any of her content whilst playing as Alvin whom also grew on me quick. Jude irks me more and more every time he opens his mouth.

I shouldn't have gotten so hung up on that one... the correct decision for me seems clear now. Special thanks to Dice for entertaining my character selection inquiry twice this week-LoL

On the character note, who else was real impressed with CE Milla Statue?? I gotta say as far as bonus material for LE's and CE's this might be my favorite goody next to my agarest mouse pad, Mugen Souls Nendoroid (sp?) figurines and Ni No Kuni Wizard's Companion.

Just finished both sides (and even got the platinum trophee - never thought that would happen!) and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't all that great. The world felt small and boring, despite the areas between cities being quite large. I guess it's the sameness that ruined it. I mean, seriously, those Sea Havens are more identical than Subway restaurants.

The whole game felt cheap and rushed compared to other mothership games.

How the heck did you do that so fast?? Is this game short for a tales title or something?

Got a review copy a couple of weeks in advance. Now that the game is out and my job is done, I don't think there's a conflict of interest if I talk about it on some RPG forum in a far corner of the internet :D

And in case you're wondering, it took me 80 hours to finish both sides. That includes 95% of the sidequests and going through the optional dungeon several times, but I did skip some scenes the second time around (only the ones I knew for certain would be identical for both characters). So yeah, it's a bit shorter than 'big' titles like Abyss and Vesperia, but a first playthrough should still take 30-40 hours, depending on the amount of sidequests you do.

My only real complaint about the game so far is that there isn't a DLC quest to find and ruthlessly murder the asshole that follows you around from town to town yelling and trying to badger you into buying the fresh mutton he's peddling. I would pay at least $40 for that DLC.